Ferguson labels Hylton a ‘disgrace’ for alleged elbow

Mike Simmonds

Luton striker Danny Hylton was labelled a ‘disgrace’ by Doncaster boss Darren Ferguson for what he alleged was an elbow on Rovers striker John Marquis during the weekend’s 1-1 draw.

In his press conference with BBC Radio Sheffield, Ferguson was quick to draw attention to the incident and felt that Town’s top scorer should have been dismissed by referee Darren Deadman, saying: “I thought we could have got more protection from the referee.

I’m disgusted with it. He’s elbowed him straight in the face, not looked at the ball, it’s got to be looked at.

Darren Ferguson

“Hylton’s a strong, very good centre forward and I don’t normally speak about certain things like that on the opposition team.

“But his elbow on John Marquis is an absolute disgrace. How he’s not sent off. They’ve got to look at it. It’s a clear elbow to his face, he shouldn’t be on the pitch.

“I’m disgusted with it. He’s elbowed him straight in the face, not looked at the ball, it’s got to be looked at.

“It’s a terrible thing to do and he looked at him, waited for him and bang, elbowed him.”

Although not asked about the incident in his post match press conference, Luton boss Nathan Jones praised official Deadman for his handling of Hylton, who wasn’t shown a 12th booking of the season, despite having a running battle with the home defenders and supporters in particular all afternoon.

He said: “He didn’t and that’s a real bonus but I think a lot of that is down to the referee.

“Some referees have booked him for absolutely nothing because they haven’t got the quality of the referee today.

“They’re too panicked and they want to do this and do that. Some referees don’t understand whereas the referee today, I thought, was excellent.

“He managed a really competitive, top end League Two game. (There were) two different systems, two different formations going against each other and cancelling each other out for small margins all over and the referee handled that well. I thought he was excellent.”

Jones also reiterated how Hylton showed once more during the game, just why in his view, the summer signing from Oxford was the number one forward in the league too, adding: “I keep harping on that, for me, he’s the best player in the league.

“He’s the most important player to us and he’s the best player in the league and he shows it week in, week out.